Hidden Shadows
by KASMN
Summary: HELLO EVERYONE! This is KASMN reporting back for duty! I am VERY sorry that I took this off! please don't kill me. It was a cold night when she first showed up. The rain pelted her skin in an endless torrent. She had to do this. She was hired to kill him. But little did she know that that would prove to change her life forever.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone, I am sorry that I had to delete my story. I had some things I needed to fix. I decided to go into more detail about some things. The story line should be easier to follow. Anyhow, hope you like it.**

The dreary mountains pushed in around me as I made my way to the dark castle. A slight drizzle permeated the air and eventually soaked through my cloak. I huddled deep into its depth, hoping to find a small bit of warmth in the fabric. But to no avail. Along with the rain, there was a cold, unrelenting wind against my face. This was the first time I had been outside of my hometown in a while. It was a small place outside of the grand Redmont. I kept mostly to myself, occasionally taking a small job for spying or whatnot. Yes, you heard me right, I'm a spy. And a thief. Before you accuse me of being a cold-hearted criminal, I just happened to be good in a certain skill set and I used it in my favor. All right, there's more to it. I used to be an assassin. Yes, an assassin. You know, someone who kills for money. Yeah, I did that. But see, I wasn't one of those assassins who did it for the fun of it. I could name off an endless list of the best assassins in the business who do it for sheer joy. They make their targets suffer in death. You see, in these lands, not only normal people roam. In the mountains, you have the dwarves, trolls and giants. For the most part, they keep to themselves. In the forests or plains you have the elves. Myself being included in this category. Then, of course, you have humans. The boring race. (If you are human reading this and take offense, I am truly sorry. I have nothing against them personally) ANYWAY… In these lands, we also have magic. There are many sub categories in this large plethora of groups. You have fire elementals, water, air, earth, lightning, stone, poison, fear, light, darkness, spirit, energy, death, life, and many others. Then you have the more dangerous elementals. The ones who can control more than one. Now, back on subject. Most people who become assassins have elemental magic. It makes it more fun for them. Since they enjoy people's pain, they use their elemental magic to kill their targets slowly. For example, if an assassin has ice magic, they could freeze someone to death. A slow, painful way to go. Stone, you could literally make their insides hard and entomb them from the inside. Also quite nasty. I could tell you more, but I'm choosing not to. But me, when I was given a target, I did it with cold, hard precision. I followed my target, learned their habits, and eventually got close enough to kill them. I'll admit it, I have elemental magic. But no, I don't use it to kill people. I choose the more... how should I say… well, the more ethical way. I don't make people suffer. I do it the simple, old fashion way, with cold, forged steel. More often than not, my employer tells me to find out a specific piece of information before killing said soon to be dead subject. Well, to put it simply, the assassin business paid great, but after a while, my morals began to sink in. I began to feel lost. Killing for money was plain wrong. So then I began just spying and stealing for money. It paid just as good as assassination, minus the unpleasant downside of slitting someone's throat. So all in all, let's just say that the only reason I took this particular job was the pay. It was infinitely more than my normal fare. Enough to keep me comfortable for a long time. The catch, of course, was that is was so far away. It had taken me almost a week to get here. To the castle I now saw. It was a place that wasn't to be found unless you were looking for it. It was rough and shot out through the rocks. Deep in a crevice, I saw a heavy, dark, wooden gate. It was silent, deadly so. I jumped off my horse, my soft leather shoes not making a sound on the rocks.  
"Alitna rayma." I whispered to it. its ears perked up the shook its mane. I grabbed my bow, various knives(which I stuck in my boots, belt, and around my person.) I then reached deep in my pack and pulled out a small crossbow no bigger than my palm along with a pack of miniature darts and a small vial of clear liquid. I dipped one of the darts in the liquid then loaded it in the crossbow.  
"Nitala viar." I whispered to my horse. He shook his mane again then quietly trotted off down the path. I snuck around the rocks until I got right next to the gate. There were no guards, which I found quite odd. From the rock I was hiding behind, I looked left and right. I stood there for quite a while until a guard rounded the corner. He had on dark clothes and armor. His helmet covered most of his face and his sword was a jagged piece of dark metal. His steps were short and clean. He walked to the gate, then stood in front of it with his shield and sword at a ready position. A few seconds later, another guard who could have been the first guards twin walked up to the gate then stood at the same position. Not moving, not talking, just standing and protecting.  
"Hmm." I thought "Might be a bit harder to get in than I thought. Oh well." I pulled out my crossbow with the dart on it, raised it to the proper height then adjusted it to counterbalance the wind, aimed, then...

**Welllllll...? what did you think? please leave comments. i love to hear your comments. **

**-KASMN**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hmm." I thought "Might be a bit harder to get in than I thought. Oh well." I pulled out my crossbow with the dart on it, raised it to the proper height then adjusted it to counterbalance the wind, aimed, then...

"Fire that weapon and i'll slit your throat." a cold voice rasped behind me. The tip of a knife appeared at my throat, causing me to go still. "Now place the weapon on the ground, slowly, and put your hands on your head." I set my crossbow on the ground, then slowly rose up. Before he could react, I whipped my elbow back into his stomach, causing him to double over. I then grabbed his arm, spun him around, and bent his arm so that now i had the knife at his throat.  
"First off, you are a bone headed idiot for trying to sneak up on me. Second, I heard you from about a mile away with all the noise you made. Third, If you want to hold a knife to someones neck, for gods sake, don't point the tip at them. You need to use the side then...push on it a little." As I said this, I pushed the knife a little harder on his neck. tiny drop of blood slid down his neck. He let out a small growl of pain.  
"Now, since I'm in a good mood today, I might let you off easy. I've heard how tempermantal your boss. Don't think he'd be too happy if he found out one of his guards was caught attacking his next job for hire. Besides, word is that it's quite a volatile and important mission."  
"Fine. Let me go and I'll show you inside." I released the knife from his neck and he let out a long sigh of relief. I flipped the blade around and gave it back to him hilt-first.  
"Nice blade." I commented. He just mumbled his agreement. I grabbed my bow from the ground and began following him. I guess he couldn't hear me follow behind him, because a moment later he turned around. He searched for a second before I moved. He jumped back in surprise.  
"How..How did you do that?"  
"What?" I grinned mischeviously. He dropped the subject and turned back around. In the next few minutes, we reached the large black gate. The guards stationed there were poised for attack, and when we walked up, they instantly had their spears to my throat. The one who led me there began speaking in some different language. The guards responded likewise. It almost sounded like... My eyes widened in realization.  
"Calvayana torir." I told them. They all turned.  
"You speak...You're..Alayvan? But I thought we were all gone." I shook my head.  
"Well. Good to know we're not completely alone."  
"What made you come here to work.?" I asked. The three of them shrugged.  
"It was the only place that would take us. Once they found out through whatever sources and whatnot that we were Alayvan, no one would take us. It was like we were cursed or something. But then we found this guy. he didn't care what we were, as long as we were willing to work and fight." I nodded in agreement. I had faced many things like that. It seemed as though because of my being Alayvan somehow shunned me from society. The magic flowing through my veins didn't seem to let me live a normal life.  
"Anyway." The guard said, all emotion suddenly gone, "enough chit-chat, lets get moving." They swung the large, stone-like doors inward. What met me was clashes of steel on forges, and strange guttural chants. All around the courtyard were strange beasts. They were strange to put it simply. With a mix between wolf and bear features. At our arrival into the gates, they stopped working. Their yellow eyes turned to us. But then, as if a silent force was compelling them to, they began back to their own previous tasks. After that, I was escorted into the actual castle. It was cold and dark, not even the few fire places seemed to dispel the chill that permeated the air. I was led through the dark, confusing, maze-like halls. I desperately tried to remember and locate any possible escape routes. If things went sour, I needed a quick escape. Throughout the halls were sentries posted at equal intervals. All of them had the same look in their eyes. Desperation, a hint of fear, and the look of bloodlust as if they were waiting for me to do something stupid like drawing my knife or using my longbow to good use. I grinned evilly. Just to mess with them, I switched my bow from my right hand to my left shooting hand and twirled it around a bit. All the guards in the near vicinity pointed their respective weapons at me.  
"Whoa, fellas. Calm down a bit. My hand was just hurting." They all looked at one another and reluctantly lowered their weapons. The posted sentries went back to their spots and I was again walking down damp corridors. We eventually reached a wooden door with metal bars on it. One of the guards pulled out a key and unlocked them and i was led down some stone steps. At the bottom was a small weaponry. Various axes, maces, swords, knives, bows, and other suspicious looking items lined the walls.  
"Weapons." He said. I sighed. i would have preferred to keep at least a dagger on me in case the worst should happen. But I reluctantly obliged. I went to take out my weapons but wasn't sure where to put them. The guard pointed to a large stone table. I laid down my bow and took my quiver off of my back. Then I grabbed all my various knives about my person. Two on each leg, one on either side of my hip, two crossed in an "x" in the small of my back, and two up each of my sleeves. I laid them all on the stone table, sad to relinquish my last bit of protection. I then undid my sword belt and set it on the table as well. I was about to walk away then I remembered I had a long dagger in my boot. I drew it and threw it at the wall. It embedded itself there and wavered a bit. Lastly, I reached around my belt and grabbed the small crossbow and and a small vial of clear liquid and a pouch of miniature arrows. Finally, I was out of weapons. I stood back and put my hands up in surrender. The guard turned me back around and up the steps. We walked down more confusing hallways until we reached a large oak door. The guards knocked a few times until a man came rushing out.  
"Hold on a bit." He rushed back inside, then a few minutes later came back out. This time, he seemed more composed.  
"Come right in." He turned to walk back in the throne room, then had another thought. "Try not to make him any more mad. He's in a bad mood. We've had enough trouble today already." The guards poked me in the back with their spears. The doors opened and I got my first good look at my employer.

**A/N:HAHHAAHHAHAHA! SUPER EVIL CLIFFIE! Love you guys:) Loyal followers... Hope you liked. Next chapter should be up soon. See ya!**  
**-KASMN**


	3. Chapter 3

Then I got the first good look at my employer.

He sat in his throne with a lithe ease. Almost as if at any time he could jump out of his throne and kill someone. There was something strange about him. I recognized him, but i wasn't sure from where. I knew it wasn't from a previous job. I would've remembered if I had worked from him before. He had pale skin, but in dark contrast was his black hair. The weirdest thing were his eyes. They pooled into his face like a never ending pit of blackness. I stood in front of his throne.

Each of us staring into the others eyes. His black ones on my grey. He raised the corner of his mouth in a small snarl. Something hit my back and I fell to my knees.  
"What kind of greeting is this?" I whispered.  
"Ally Mayta pleased to meet you."  
"You know.." I said as I stood up. The guard kept a hand on my shoulder. I smacked it off. "You know, if you want to introduce yourself to someone who's gonna do a high profile job for you, knocking them down on their face may not be the best option." He actually laughed a bit at that. It was a cold laugh. It sounded like metal scraping on rocks. It hurt my ears.  
"So...About this oh-so important job you have for me?..."  
"What do you request for your services?" He asked, changing the subject.  
"10 crowns. And the keeping of my life."  
"Good terms. Very well. Your services are accepted. When can you begin?"  
"Right now." He raised an eyebrow and I sighed. He was another one of (those) people. He motioned with his hand and a guard brought a small stack of papers to me. I immediately began skimming through them. The majority were letters that had a small oak leaf at the top. I recognized the seal. I looked back up at him.  
"The target is a Ranger," he said and stopped. I sighed once more and asked the obvious question.  
"Which one?" He made me wait a few minutes before answering.  
"Halt the Ranger." I sucked in a small breath. Halt was nothing short of famous. A few months ago, I had a job where I had to spy on him for a short time. Let's just say that it did't turn out the best. I subconsciously rubbed the long scar on my arm. I set down the scrolls and papers.  
"Let me get this straight, You want me to find Halt the Ranger and do what?"  
"I want you to kill him."


End file.
